Arsenal (0) 4 - 1 (1)(after extra time. 1-1 at 90 minutes)Highbury, Tuesday 14th October 1997Coca-Cola Cup round 3
Scorers:
Boa Morte 2, Platt, Mendez. Hey
Arsenal:
Manninger
Dixon (Crowe 90) Grimandi Marshall Upson
Mendez Platt Vernazza Hughes
Boa Morte (Muntasser 119) Wreh
Arsenal reserves took us through to the 4th round with a performance that bodes well for the future, despite a decidedly dodgy start which saw us 1 goal down and going nowhere. The Clock End was cheerfully singing about not caring, but I think we were all quite pleased to have gone through in the end! Arsenal pre-empted complaints by offering money back to fans not happy with the line-up. Birmingham had the better of the first half, and went ahead on 19 minutes when a free kick lofted into the box came down to Dixon, but with the ball on his left foot his clearance went straight to Hey who drove it into the left hand side of the net from just inside the area. Manninger didn't move, and while Seaman *might* not have saved it, I do feel he'd at least have stuck a hand out. In the second half we had more of the game, but they had chances to go 2 up before Boa Morte got the equaliser with an explosive drive. Birmingham had a man sent off for a second yellow card after bringing Boa Morte down, but the second half fizzled out and despite a strong finish Arsenal were unable to stop it going into extra time. Extra time started with Crowe, who had come on for Dixon (captain for teh match), being sent off for a high challenge. It looked a harsh decision, both players going for it with equal aggression and equal right to go for it. But Arsenal finally managed to take control, and a Platt penalty after Boa Morte was brought down by Bruce saw us take the lead. In the second period we made it safe with another from Boa Morte, afetr Mendez had brought the ball out superbly and put him clear on goal with a perfect ball. Then Mendez wrapped it up with a great drive after Boa Morte had cut the ball back from the goal line to Hughes, who tapped it back again into Mendez's path. As you can probably tell from the mentions above, Boa Morte was the main man this evening. He caused Birmingham trouble all night and had a hand in all four goals. Mendez also looked very good, and Wreh & Vernazza also impressed. After a nervous start Manninger had a reasonable game. In the end it was a very exciting and satisfying match, although those who left at full-time might not agree! Let's hope it says something about squad depth, somehting that could be significant in the Premiership what with Man Utd, also fielding a reserve side, going out 2-0 to Ipswich. With Muntasser coming on for Man of the Match Boa Morte at the death, we had 8 youngsters making their debuts tonight. Crowe's finishing as it did with a red card within a minute of coming on, was less than auspicious. Otherwise it was very encouraging. Other good news today: Petit's ankle injury, picked up in France's friendly with South Africa, has been shown not to be a break, and he may be able to play for us very soon.
Coca Cola Cup, third round
Arsenal vs Birmingham City Tue Oct 14 1997
Result : Arsenal (0) 4 Birmingham (1) 1
(After extra time)
Scorers: Boa Morte 62,108, Hey 20
Platt (99 pen), Mendez 113
Arsenal: Manninger, Dixon, Marshall, Grimandi, Upson, Vernazza, Platt,
Hughes, Mendez, Boa Morte, Wreh
Subs: Crowe (Dixon 91), Muntasser (Boa Morte 119), Bartram
Booked: Marshall, Dixon, Upson
Sent off: Crowe (91)
Birmingham: Bennett, Wassall, Grainger, Bruce, Ablett, O'Connor,
Devlin, Hey, Holland, Robinson, Ndlovu
Subs: Bass (Devlin 84), Johnson (Bruce 100),
Francis (Holland 105)
Booked: Grainger, Wassall, Ndlovu
Sent Off: Wassall (83, 2nd yellow)
Att: 27097
Ref: U D Rennie (Sheffield)
In the end a very enjoyable game at Highbury on Tues night, as a team of
Arsenal reserves eventually came good in extra time to beat 1st division
Birmingham with a flourish. It was an unfamiliar Arsenal line-up, with
only one of the current 1st choice 11, 4 players under 21, another 3
under 23 and four of the starting team & two substitutes making their
debuts. Under the circumstances, a very encouraging result. As far as I
could see, Arsenal were playing a sort of 4-5-1 formation, with Hughes,
Platt and Vernazza in the middle, Boa Morte & Mendez on the wings, and
Wreh on his own up front. Certainly in the 1st half it seemed that way,
though after half time perhaps Boa Morte was moved further forward to
give a bit more support to Wreh.
Anyhow, the young Gunners started pretty well and dominated the opening 20 minutes with some crisp passing, though without creating many clear cut chances. Vernazza went close with a snap shot from just outside the area which whistled only a foot or two wide, a good run down the right by Mendez resulted in Boa Morte being sent in on the left side of the area with a good chance. However, his first touch took the ball slightly too far, and Bennett was out quickly to make a good smothering block. It was against the run of play that Birmingham took the lead midway through the half. In fact it was virtually the first time they'd got into the Arsenal area. Marshall was somewhat harshly penalised and booked for a tackle a few yards outside the area on the Brum right, and Bruce was left unmarked beyond the far post for the resultant free kick. He headed back into the middle, Marshall and Dixon both failed to clear properly and Hey chested the ball down on the edge of the area before firing in a shot which took a wicked deflection on it's way in to give Manninger no chance. Arsenal again had the better of possession for the rest of the half, apart from some Birmingham pressure late on resulting from a couple of corners which had Manninger flapping unconvincingly. However, the only real chance I can recall was created for himself by Mendez. Another strong run through the middle made some space in the area for a clear shot on goal, but on his weaker left foot he hit it straight at the keeper when he might have left it to Platt who was equally well placed to shoot with his right. Ironically, the second half was more evenly contested and indeed early on Birmingham should have been two up when one of the Brum players got free down their right and pulled the ball back to the near post where Devlin was running in. Fortunately he put his shot into the side netting. Arsenal responded with a bit of pressure, which eventually paid off about 15 minutes into the half. A Mendez corner from the left was headed back out to him, his return cross was weakly headed away by Bruce straight to Boa Morte as he lurked on the edge of the area. The young Portugese winger controlled the ball on his chest before hitting a volley with the outside of his left foot which swerved past Bennett and inside the right hand post. The home crowd at last woke up and started giving their young team some more vocal encouragement, and the result was a more end to end game which could have gone either way. Arsenal still had more possession but Birmingham had their chances, most notably on a couple of occasions when Grimandi slackly gave the ball away in dangerous areas. Devlin particularly should have profitted from one of these, but sliced a shot from inside the area wide, with only the keeper to beat. At the other end, Arsenal also went close on several occasions. On one break Wreh twisted and turned a defender before firing in a left foot shot from 25 yards which bounced off the top of the crossbar. Boa Morte had a reasonable chance breaking clear into the area, but dithered over shooting and allowed Bruce to block the eventual shot. It was another Boa Morte break down the left which led to Birmingham playing the rest of the game with 10 men. He knocked the ball one side of Wassall and tried to run round the other, but was crudely blocked by the defender. Having already been booked, a second yellow saw him trudging off. Strangely though it was the visitors who almost snatched it at the death. Another break down the Arsenal left resulted in Hey being sent in for a shot which Manninger did well to block. Extra time started with Crowe coming on for Dixon, and less than a minute later going off having been red carded for a dangerous challenge on O'Connor. Looking at the replay on TV later it was a bit reckless to leave his foot up, but there was clearly no malicious intent, so the decision to send him off seemed very harsh. Strangely the ref called him over, then paused to check on O'Connor's condition before eventually pulling out the red card. Still, the game opened up and with Birmingham now tiring noticeably Arsenal seemed able to get away with only 3 at the back most of the time, though it seemed to me that on the occasions that the defence was under a bit of pressure it was Hughes who dropped back to centre half, with Grimandi covering at right back. Boa Morte in particular began to revel in the extra space. He was sent clear down the left by a pass (I think from Hughes), his shot from an angle beat the keeper and appeared to be rolling into the net only to hit the far post and bounce out to safety. Soon afterwards though, Boa Morte did make the opening which led to Arsenal taking the lead. He dribbled into the area, evading an initial challenge from Bruce whose followup seemed to catch the winger as he went past. Anyway, down he went and the ref pointed immediately to the spot. At first Wreh seemed to be about to take it, but then there was a bit of debate between him, Boa Morte and Platt, and eventually the latter took charge and hammered the spot kick confidently home. In the second half of extra time, Birmingham brought on Kevin Francis and immediately (to the accompaniment of oooOOOOHHHH! from the North Bank each time) began to hit long balls in his direction. It nearly paid off too, because he easily won every one and from a corner sent a header against the underside of the bar. From the clearance Mendez broke quickly into the Brum half, and released a perfect pass into Boa Morte's path as he screamed up unmarked on his left. The winger took the ball into the area before carefully side-footing a left foot shot across the keeper. Bennett got a touch to it but couldn't stop it rolling just inside the post. Five minutes later it was all over. Upson played a lovely ball inside the full back to send in Boa Morte again down the left. He got to the byline before cutting the ball back towards Vernazza who'd made a run into the middle. The 17 year old had to check back to regain possession, but touched the ball back to Mendez who stroked a clinical left foot shot from a few yards outside the area past Bennett and inside the left hand post. Overall an entertaining and rewarding evening. It was good to see what the youngsters could do, good to see them trying so hard, and also good to see them eventually outplay a 1st division team, though it should also be remembered that Birmingham had played a league match only two days previously.
Manninger 6.0 Looked rather nervous and uncertain, particularly in the
1st half on crosses. Did make two or three good stops
though.
Dixon 6.5 Solid enough without doing more than he had to.
Upson 6.5 I thought he also looked nervous, and a bit out of depth
and position, though he has a good touch and played one
or two good passes. A lot of Birmingham's better attacks
came down his side when he was caught out.
Grimandi 6.0 Didn't present much of a case for regaining his place
from Bouldy, and almost presented the visitors with a
goal on a couple of occasions.
Marshall 7.0 Reasonably solid.
Platt 7.0 Did a pretty good job I thought, of anchoring and
organising the midfield.
Hughes 7.0 I also thought he didn't play too badly, and did a
competent if unspectacular job.
Vernazza 7.5 Of the debutants I think he was the one who impressed me
most in a way. For a 17 year old who has played only a
handful of reserve games I thought he was remarkably
composed and displayed a good touch with some nice
passing.
Mendez 8.0 Also very impressive, a strong runner with the ball with
a good shot.
Boa Morte 8.0 I have to say that to begin with I wasn't at all
impressed. In the first half he was very much head down
and frustrating with his inability to release the ball
quickly enough. However, scoring a lovely goal gave him
confidence and with the extra space as the game opened
out he flourished. Scoring two and having a hand in the
other two it is hard to argue with his choice as MOM. He
is a bit of a character as well, and seemed to have the
happy knack of getting things to happen round him.
Wreh 7.5 I was reasonably impressed with him and thought he did
well enough as the lone striker, holding the ball up
and laying it off reasonably well.
Other reports
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